The weekly times. (Wilmington, Del.) 1886-18??, 1887-03-19
[Continned from AZ paqe.l

y y y
for the ediHcation Of members around
me how this'is done. (Cries of"Go
on.n
The Desert Land act allows man
to take quantity OF land for him
self only, not exceeding $40 acres,
upon due proof of reclamation.
Here is a stream running, we will
say for the sake Of illustration, from
this point around to where my
friend from Kansas (Mr. Peters)
sits.
/ want to get possession of this
property, and | hire Tom, Dick and
Harfy-hire men everywhere--to
90 and make desert land claims, with
an agreement on their part that as
soon as the proof is presented and
recognized in the local Land Office
they will turn the evidence Of title
over to me. That is done. II is
true, the men have got to commit
perjury in order TO accomplish it,
but what does that amount to when
you are robbing the government
1t does not amount to anything APP
parently. The Desert Land act re-
Quires that there shall be reclama-
ton, that there shall be water con-
Quoted upon the land. hold here
in my hand official records to show
that men who have made entries in
this way take plough and go and
run line, plough dead furrow up
hill and down, around and about,
and go back to the local office and
swear that ditch has been con-
struoted, no matter how steep the hill
may be, for water is presumed to
run up hill for the benefit Of
man who desires to rob the govern
ment--that ditch has been con-
struoted and is ready to have the
water conveyed into it as soon as
the head works are constructed.
The conveyanees are then made to
the employer and the men are paid
off.
AS to the land which requires
actual settlement as is required by
the Homestead and the Presumption
laws, here Is favorite way of doing
1t. The law requires there shall be
proof of house being erected, and
the man making the proof is the.
actual occupant OF the land and re-
sides in the house. They will build
house and put 1t on wheels. The
man hired by the party desiring to
make the entry goes in and
sleeps In the house one night,
then goes to the nearest land office
and swears he lived in the house sit
uated on the land 3 feet by ~, with
3 seconG story, and all that sort of
thing, giving a minute description
of what for that country would be
pretty excellent house. Next morn
ing pair of oxen are attached to
the house and haul it on to the
neighboring piece Of land, and the
same process is gone through. My
colleague sitting near me (Mr.
Plumb) tells me man in his town
was one of a party ofcapitalists who,
by just such methods, secured in
one county In Nebraska 81 900 acres
of the public lands, and the records
IN the department show it.
SYSTEMATIC AND SUCCESSFUL FRAUD.
1t is useful for workingmen and
the Knights of Labor to bear in
mind that these frauds are syste-
matte. They have been going on
successfully SO long that the rascal
ity has been reduced to system.
A capitalist land grabber wants ten
or twenty or forty thousand acres
Of the peoples homesteads for him
self, and he goes or sends out, hires
the vsgahonds Of the region at so
much q month to perjure themselves,
and get his land, or did until the
present administration began the
work of reform with energy.
But then at once the land grab
bers began to cry out Mr.. Randall
and the Appropriations Committee
came to their help by denying a
proper force to uncover these vast
frauds and bring their perpetrators
to justice; and the Republican Sem
ate, with Senator Dolph, of Oregon,
IS their leader in the infamous bust.
ness, demanded, as the condition on |
which alone they would suffer the
repeal Of the Presumption, Timber |
Culture and Desert Land acts.
which have been the cover of these
frauds, that all that had been
grabbed under them should be con- |
foned and legalized. The House |
righteously refused. The House was
80 DESTROYS to get the Senate's agree
nent to therepeal of these inlquitious
laws that its eonferees even offered, |
says Mr.. Payson -
On fha nronnaal in fha co,a4 |